The global recession gives South Africa's government an opportunity to deal with some of the "push factors" that contribute to South Africans emigrating, as the slowdown has delayed the emigration plans of many, research company Synovate MD Charlotte Jackson said on Monday.

Its latest emigration survey highlighted that 56% of those who had indicated they were definitely going to emigrate or who were seriously considering emigration, now said that their plans would be delayed until the global economy was more stable.

There had been no significant decline in the number of South Africans who said they were definitely planning on emigrating or seriously considering it, representing about 18% of respondents.

This was marginally lower than the 20% who were planning to emigrate or considering it in 2008.

"This is still higher than desirable. But a very definite positive is the fact that there has been an increase in the percentage of South Africans that state they have no intention of leaving South Africa," Jackson commented.

About 53% of respondents said they had no intention of emigrating, compared with 47% in 2008.

Violence, crime and corruption were the primary motivations for those wanting to emigrate, with 82% of respondents listing this as the main reason. This was 27% higher than the 55% of respondents in 2008.

Other push factors included the volatile economy at 31%, government problems at 31%, discrimination at 7%, and infrastructural concerns at 3%.

Synovate stated that the number of respondents indicating better job or business opportunities abroad had declined to 66%, down from the 88% in 2008.

However, the risk of South Africa losing core skills and the income these skills generate was still too high for comfort. Continued effort from the South African government to attract skilled foreigners was necessary to help alleviate this risk.

Further, nearly half of those who indicated they intended to emigrate said that they would definitely or probably return to South Africa, while only 15% said that they probably or definitely would not return to the country.

Meanwhile, the most popular reasons for staying in South Africa included, the climate, wanting to be close to family and friends, a love for the South African people, and the nature and wildlife the country had to offer.